James A. Banks is Russell F. Stark University Professor and director of the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington, Seattle. His books include "Cultural Diversity and Education: Foundations, Curriculum and Teaching, and "Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, (5th Edition) from Wiley, and the "Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education (2nd Edition) and "Diversity and Citizenship Education: Global Perspectives from Jossey-Bass. Professor Banks is a past president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSSF). He is the recipient of a Distinguished Career Contribution Award from AERA and of the Distinguished Career Research in Social Studies Award from the NCSSF. Professor Banks is member of the National Academy of Education.

Cherry A. McGee Banks is associate professor of Education at the University of Washington, Bothell. She is the coeditor of "Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives and contributing author of "Multicultural Education: Transformative Knowledge, and Action. She has published widely on topics related to multicultural education in journals such as "Social Education, Phi Delta Kappan, and Educational Policy. In 1997 she received the Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of Washington, Bothell. She was the recipient of the Worthington Distinguished Award on her campus in 2000. She has served as a member of the editorial board of the "American Educational Research Journal.